Stone Age Animal Figurines Unearthed Outside Jerusalem

A statuette of a bovine, possibly a buffalo, found in an excavation in Israel. The Stone Age figure may be 9,500 years old. Source: Israel Antiquities Authority via Bloomberg.

Aug. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Two ancient animal figurines, one in
the image of a ram and the second a wild bovine, have been
discovered in excavations near Jerusalem.

The Stone Age statuettes, which are estimated to be between
9,000 and 9,500 years old, may have been charms to help ensure
successful hunting, according to archaeologists who announced
the discovery today in an e-mailed release.

The items were found by the Israel Antiquities Authority in
an excavation taking place at Tel Moza, before the widening of
Highway 1, which runs between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

“It is known that hunting was the major activity in this
period,” Hamoudi Khalaily, director of the dig, said in the
release. The figurines “may have been the focus of a
traditional ceremony the hunters performed.”

During the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period, when these items
were made, the transition began to sedentary life, based on
farming and grazing, from nomadism, based on hunting and
gathering, Khalaily said.

A sculpture in the shape of a ram with twisted horns was
fashioned from limestone.

“The sculpting is extraordinary and precisely depicts
details of the animal’s image,” Khalaily said. “The head and
horns protrude in front of the body and their proportions are
extremely accurate.”

A second figurine is made from dolomite and is of an
abstract design. It depicts a large animal with prominent horns
that emerge from the middle of the head sideward and resemble
those of a wild bovine or buffalo.